Saturday, November 2, 2013

The FAA and the Mach 20 enigma

 
 
 

 
The speed of sound (Mach 1) at sea level on a 59ºF day is 1,116.4 feet/second or 761.2 MPH
 
 
 
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules the skies in America. There is no other organization with more authority over everything that uses our airways than the FAA. They have the authority to review or keep any domestic radar tape from any air traffic control position, military or civilian.

As a young boy (not to date myself), I can clearly remember when military jets flying overhead would occasionally break the sound barrier. BOOM! Windows would rattle, dogs would bark and people not expecting it would show surprise and sometimes alarm. It was not too long after this started that the public said "Enough!" Soon there were no more sonic booms to be heard. If the military really wanted to "crank it up", it had to be over desolate land or the ocean.

Rumors have been floating around for years that the FAA is harboring a secret - a very big secret. It seems on occasion one or more of the radar sites will track something in our skies traveling at over Mach 1. When I say over Mach 1, I mean quite a bit over.

What is interesting is the fastest jet we have ever had (supposedly) was the Lockheed Blackbird (SR71). Now retired, I have seen these things in action when they were part of our secret inventory. They were as fast as grease lightning. One Blackbird set the all time speed record of making it to almost Mach 3. That is fast in anyone's book!

However, the rumors about the FAA are even more interesting. They have tracked "boogies" traveling at unheard of speeds - some up to Mach 20! Impossible speeds, impossible turns, improbable altitudes. Not only that, they have been tracked over populated areas going way over Mach 1. Guess what? No sonic booms were detected. What is even stranger is this - sometimes there is a visual by an airliner or private aircraft of one of these "boogies" which correlated to one of the radar tracks.

More and more retired air traffic controllers (who have been under a NDA (non-disclosure agreement)) have been coming forward with tales of these ultra fast "boogies". What are they? Who knows. I do know this much - whatever they are, they are a mystery. Some say they are part of the long rumored Project Aurora. Others say it they are part of the even more clandestine TR-3B Program. Some say they might even be "other-worldly". Still others say they are just natural phenomenon. The fact that our airspace is being pierced by a "something" that can fly 7 times faster than our fastest jet is bothersome. It is bothersome that nobody knows or confesses to know what they are.

As for now, this will just remain one of our many mysteries or urban legends. I guess we will have to wait until Edward Snowden or someone like him reveals that chapter from our nation's Book of Secrets.

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